272 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



numbers of sailing vessels were employed as coasters 

 and in oversea work. Many of these craft, caught by the 

 storm, were hurled ashore, and in a very short space of 

 time no fewer than seven vessels were wrecked on half 

 a mile of the coast at Whitby. The harbour there is 

 dangerous to make in bad weather, and at such a time 

 as this there was no chance of the ships running into 

 shelter between the piers. The only hope of salvation 

 for the crews rested in the coming of the lifeboat and 

 the courage of the fishermen who formed her crew. 



The lifeboat was a new craft 30 ft. long, 7 ft. 

 9 in. broad, 3 ft. 6 in. deep, and with a foot and 

 a half sheer of gunwale. She had been launched only a 

 few months previously and was manned by thirteen of 

 the bravest and most skilful men of Whitby. She went 

 out, to begin with, and rescued the crew of one vessel 

 and brought them ashore, and for the fifth time she was 

 pulled into the fierce seas and returned with crews 

 saved from vessels which were being smashed to match- 

 wood on the rocks and beach. 



By this time the men were utterly exhausted ; they 

 had had nothing to eat since breakfast and had only 

 been able in some cases to drink a glass of grog in the 

 intervals between two or three of the valiant rescues. 

 Not all the men took even this refreshment ; some of 

 them had nothing whatever in the shape of food or 

 drink. A sixth ship was driven in by the furious wind 

 and overwhelming sea behind the pier. Exhausted 

 though they were, the men fought the lifeboat out again 

 in expectation of bringing safely ashore the crew of the 

 latest wreck. Yard by yard they struggled out, thou- 

 sands of people watching their fight from the piers and 



